Durham, Wake health departments will start vaccinating seniors this week
County health departments in Durham and Wake will start vaccinating seniors on Tuesday, joining Orange County and several local hospitals in what is now called Group 2 of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
North Carolina recently announced changes to its vaccine rollout, expanding the current groups of people eligible to any health care workers or staff who come into contact with patients (part of Group 1); anyone living in a nursing home or long-term care facility (also in Group 1); and anyone who is at least 65 years old (Group 2).
Even though Wake County has taken longer to move into Group 2 than some others because of its high number of health care workers, its 21,075 people who have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 5,757 who have received two doses both lead the state.
In Durham County, 11,970 have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 3,574 have received two. Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require two shots to reach their maximum effectiveness.
Orange County has had 7,121 people inoculated with one dose of a vaccine, with 1,872 receiving both doses.
Even as counties work through the vaccination process, COVID-19 is continuing to infect high numbers of people. After spiking throughout and immediately after the holidays, though, the number of new cases largely either leveled off or fell during the week of Jan. 11.
For instance, Wake County reported 5,569 new cases, virtually the same as the 5,565 new cases it reported the week of Jan. 4.
Durham and Orange counties both saw their numbers of lab-reported cases fall, according to data from the the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
Durham went from 1,304 cases during the week of Jan. 4 to 1,043 during the week of Jan. 11, according to DHHS data. Orange County had 455 cases the first week, falling to 397.
The case counts are still higher than they were before Christmas and New Year’s.
“We are definitely seeing a surge as a result of gatherings and travel over the holidays,” Quintana Stewart, Orange County’s health director, said in a recorded video message.
Making vaccine appointments
At 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Wake County will launch a phone number and web portal where anyone who is interested in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine can sign up to get on a waiting list, The News & Observer reported.
The Wake County phone line can be reached at (919) 250-1515 24 hours a day, seven days a week starting Tuesday. Those who are more comfortable signing up online can do so at wakegov.com/vaccine, beginning at the same time.
Wake County officials made clear that this is not an appointment service. Instead, people will be signing up for a waiting list and receiving invitations when the county has enough supply to reach their spot in line. At that point, a recipient would sign up for an appointment through Wake County and register with North Carolina’s COVID-19 Vaccine Management System.
Dr. Jason Wittes, Wake County’s pharmacy director, told The News & Observer that vaccine appointments in Wake County will be prioritized based on an algorithm that considers factors such as age, employment and how significantly COVID-19 is impacting the ZIP code where someone lives.
“If you’re a 75-year-old who’s still actively working and a health care worker, and you work in 27610, you’re going to be our highest (priority) because the infection rate in that ZIP code is very high,” Wittes said.
Anyone who is interested in a vaccine in Durham should call (919) 560-4357 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. from Monday through Friday. The vaccine is only available with an appointment.
If you can’t get through, Durham officials said to call back. They cannot take voicemails or return calls right now due to the high number of calls.
“Please be patient. We are receiving calls from hundreds of community members at a time and although our team is working nonstop to answer your calls, getting through will take time,” Rod Jenkins, the director of the Durham County Department of Public Health, said in his weekly video message.
In anticipation of increased demand, the Durham County Department of Public Health announced that it plans to partner with Duke Health to open Southern High School as a vaccination site beginning Tuesday. Moving forward, vaccine will be available at the high school from Monday through Friday.
The Durham health department also announced plans to add Saturday appointments at its building downtown.
Orange County began vaccinating people who are at least 75 years old on Jan. 7. Now, with the state’s guidelines changing, it will start incorporating those who are at least 65 in its plans.
Those interested in making an appointment with the Orange County Health Department can fill out a vaccine interest form at https://redcap.link/OCHDvax or by calling (919) 913-8088. Then, you will receive a form to sign up for the state management system, and the health department will send an email when it’s time to actually schedule an appointment.
“We are experiencing a very high call volume, so please be prepared to leave a voicemail and someone will return your call very soon, but it may not be on the same day you called,” Rebecca Crawford, the Orange County Health Department’s finance director who is also coordinating the vaccine effort, said in a video message.
Anyone who is not in Groups 1 or 2 is asked to wait to call about an appointment, and public health officials are also asking those interested in receiving the vaccine to only book an appointment with one provider.
Vaccinations are also available to those eligible through UNC Health (www.yourshot.org), Duke Health or WakeMed.
Jail and prison outbreaks
Thursday, the Wake County Sheriff’s Office announced that it has ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks in two jails, the John H. Baker Jr. Public Safety Center downtown and its Wake County Detention Center on Hammond Road, between Raleigh and Garner.
As of Thursday, the sheriff’s office said 56 inmates at the public safety center and 43 inmates at the Wake County Detention Center had tested positive for COVID-19. So had 17 staff members.
Inmates who tested positive were separated from those who had not tested positive, according to the sheriff’s office.
In a news release, the sheriff’s office said it is “difficult to say” what caused the outbreak, but that some people who have just been arrested tested positive for the virus. Inmates also share common areas during their time in the jail, according to the sheriff’s office.
According to the DHHS congregate living outbreak report, there is also an ongoing outbreak at the Durham County jail, where 12 inmates and five staff members have tested positive.
Elsewhere in the Triangle, the federal Butner Medium II Federal Correctional Institution near the Durham-Granville county line has 233 active COVID-19 cases among inmates. That is the third-most of any facility in the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Additionally, eight staff members at Butner Medium II have tested positive for COVID-19.
No inmates or staff have died during the outbreak, according to the Bureau of Prisons’ website.
At least 27 inmates and a staff member have died at other facilities in Butner.
This story was originally published January 17, 2021 at 6:31 PM.